I'm excited to announce that the latest edition of the annual science anthology that I edit, The Best American Science Writing 2010, is now available at your favorite bookstore. Not, however, available for Kindles yet.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The Kids are All Darwinian
I felt the way a lot people did about "The Kids are All Right"--that it presented characters who can be both likable and awful, that it caught some moments of genuine and natural feeling, and that when it trusted itself it achieved both real comedy and real insight. But I also wonder if anyone noticed, as I did, that the heart of the story was a kind of natural-world allegory of a struggle by two alphas over a troop or herd (in this case, a family). Mark Ruffalo's and Annette Benning's characters are the alphas, and the tension between the two of them is about competition and domination; Julianne Moore's character and the "kids" of the title are the subordinates who are long for and resent these powerful presences in their lives. Will Ruffalo topple Benning, or will she maintain her hold on power?
I'm not sure if I've seen a film that has had this kind of evolutionary-psychology approach woven into its story. This isn't a simplistic, social-Darwinist-type of thing. It's more subtle. I even wonder if the filmmakers intended it, or whether it's just a quality inherent in the story, or so ingrained in the filmmakers' worldview as to be unconscious.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
